Sunday, March 24, 2013

The Acquisition Workforce: Are We Going Backwards?

As the meat grinder of sequestration continues to move
forward, the initiatives to improve and develop the acquisition workforce will
more than likely come to a grinding halt, and move capabilities backwards at a
time where forward movement is badly needed.

At this past week’s 2013
Acquisition Excellence Conference, The American Council for
Technology-Industry Advisory Council and the General Services Administration
(GSA) co-hosted what was dubbed a "training and education" event, but
according to those that attended, the unspoken theme was “doing more with less”
and strategic sourcing.

I regretfully was unable to attend, but it sounds like
perhaps the conference was a missed opportunity to really “train and educate.”
However, the fact that the conference experienced 30% less attendance from last
year, that number is a symbol of what seems to be happening all across
the board in the development of the acquisition workforce.

Make no mistake; the acquisition workforce is in crisis
mode. With budget cuts and continued uncertainty, the opportunities to educate
and develop the workforce will shrink accordingly.

This point was analyzed through the excellent publication from
the Professional Service’s Council biennial Acquisition Policy Survey (formerly the
Procurement Policy Survey). The section of Budget
Stability discussed “doing more with less,” which also includes who will be
doing the buying. Which leaves an interesting question: Who will be doing the buying?

According to Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP) Joe
Jordan, it may be left in the hands on the less
experienced:

…The
top federal procurement officer on Thursday called for “not a tweak but a full
rethink” of the government’s planning for its acquisition workforce, warning
that as many as 40 percent of the 36,000 federal contracting officers could
retire in the next five years.

Joe
Jordan, administrator of the White House Office of Federal Procurement Policy,
compared the coming brain drain to water flowing out of a “giant bathtub,”
saying he plans to push agencies to “widen the aperture of who they recruit.”…

Adding insult to injury is the fact that due to budgets
cuts, contractor support will also be cut, along with retirees coming back as
consultants. We have no choice but to hand the keys over those with the
equivalent of learner’s permits.

We now are back to the original issue: How do we assure the
acquisition workforce has the capabilities to perform these most difficult
missions under severe budgetary pressures and through less experienced 1102s?

OFPP Administrator Joe Jordan recently signed a service-level
agreement (SLA) between OFPP and GSA to strengthen their cooperation and
commitment to the Federal Acquisition Institute (FAI), who I like to call the
“red-headed step child” of the training institutions in government. What
Defense Acquisition University (DAU) is to Defense acquisition workers, FAI is
to non-Defense 1102s.

Therein lies the rub, where is the money? Is there a
monetary commitment with this SLA? DAU has traditional gotten vast sums of
money, much more than FAI in the past, which is why I gave FAI that moniker. Should
we not be preparing all acquisition workers (which I include program managers)
equally to perform effectively?

We can talk all day about people, but until a financial
investment is slated and properly used to educate and develop the acquisition
workforce, we will continue to experience gaps in skill sets and
capabilities.

Not a silver bullet of course, but educating 1102s on
effective and proper practices on how best to execute their missions is
important nonetheless. Based on fewer opportunities to attend conferences,
classes (in some cases mandatory for certification), and overall training and
development, we can expect to go backwards in how we award and manage
contracts.

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About Me

Mr. Gracia is President and CEO of Seville Government Consulting. He is an experienced consultant in government contracting and procurement processes, focusing on small business and government clients. He has 20 years of professional experience providing consulting support for the acquisition, training, and management of services and technology in the government and commercial sector including numerous DoD and Federal civilian agencies. He is a Navy veteran, actively supporting military organizations such as the USO, Soldier's Angels, and serving as CFO for Cigars for Warriors.